Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 189: To ask the Minister for Finance the measures he is putting in place to restore consumer confidence in the Irish economy. [22309/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the recent decline in consumer confidence as measured by the Consumer Sentiment Index. While there are a number of challenges facing the economy, we face them from a position of strength. For instance, we have one of the lowest levels of public debt in the euro area, our markets are flexible allowing us to respond efficiently to adverse developments, we have a dynamic and well educated labour force, we have a pro-business outward looking society and the tax burden on both labour and capital is low. This Government, through the implementation of policies aimed at securing our prosperity and future economic growth will assist in restoring consumer confidence.

Budget 2008 represented a stimulus to the economy and should help boost economic activity. Sustained investment in our core economic infrastructure, as provided for under the National Development Plan, remains a key priority for the period ahead. In this context, the Government is also committed to education, training and life-long learning in order to ensure that those losing their jobs can acquire the necessary skills to gain employment in expanding sectors of the economy. Through the social partnership process, the Government is also supporting improvements in competitiveness by promoting sensible wage developments as well as reforming the public sector.

We are also committed to maintaining flexibility in our economy and to maintaining a low burden of taxation of capital and labour in order to reward work and enterprise. Hence, once we surmount the short-term difficulties, the outlook is for a pick-up to more sustainable rates of growth. It is of note that others, including the ESRI, share my assessment as evidenced by their recently published Medium Term Review.